School Safety

"Indicators of School crime and Safety: 2008"

Students between the ages of 12 and 18 were victims of 1.7 million violent and nonviolent crimes at school in 2006, according to the latest annual report on school safety from the federal government.

Published jointly by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics, its Institute of Education Sciences, and the Bureau of Justice Statistics at the U.S. Department of Justice, the report pulls together data from several studies and national surveys. It shows that, over the 2006-07 school year, 86 percent of public schools reported that at least one violent crime, theft, or other criminal offense occurred on their campuses.

The rate of homicides or suicides at school that year was one per 1.6 million students, about the same as it has been over the 11 years the study has been keeping track.

The report also notes that, in 2007, 8 percent of students in grades 9-12 reported having been threatened or injured with a weapon in the previous 12 months.

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